Wisconsin shows how the Covid-19 pandemic has made holding elections much more difficult

If this were a normal primary season, I would be poring over the delegate numbers already decided and the polls for those yet to come, and analyzing Wisconsin’s role in the primaries and importance in the general election. If this were a normal primary season, because Wisconsin’s primary was scheduled in between the primary election dates of states with far more delegates, we would probably be seeing visits from Biden, Sanders, and Trump.

Instead, the importance of Wisconsin’s April 7th election is that it is the first election to occur amid the “Safer at Home” directives while more than a dozen other states have postponed their primaries. Plans, arguments, and even several lawsuits are changing the election plans and processes nearly as fast as Covid-19 is spreading across Wisconsin. Eyes are on Wisconsin to see what lessons can be learned from a state that allows mail-in absentee voting, but does not typically see many votes cast in this way. Wisconsin is a high turn-out, high in-person voting state. With a week to go until the election, how will the Badger State cope? CONT.

Wendy Scattergood (St. Norbert College), LSE USAPP

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